Please tell Labour to get a nature conservation policy

The Labour animal welfare plan is a pretty good document. It is open for consultation until the end of the month – please send in some comments – I have! I welcomed the plan – which includes some conservation measures as well as primarily welfare measures. That’s good.  But Labour does need a nature conservation…

Going into some kind of semi-torpor

From now until, the beginning of July, blog posts here will be far less frequent and rather unpredictable, as I am travelling a lot – coming and going. This might be a good time to sign up to getting new posts on this blog to be sent automatically to you.  You can do that by…

Flowers we can pick (3) – Primroses

  I was slightly surprised to see Primrose on Plantlife’s list of flowers it is OK to pick – I’m not sure why really because this is the third (out of three so far) of the ‘Plantlife 12 pickable species’ that I get in my garden! But I’ve always put Primroses on a bit of…

I’m a bit puzzled

I know, or at least I think I know, that Ian Coghill recounted a tale of what Michael Gove had said to him, Nick Downshire (chair of the Moorland Association) and Amanda Anderson, to a room which consisted largely of grouse moor managers. I know this because the intelligence rapidly trickled back from that meeting…

Forest of Bowland AONB – get a new logo!

Forest of Bowland AONB, get a new logo!  Or even better, use your good offices to help the Hen Harrier, the bird featured on your signs (see above), to recover in numbers in your patch. In a recent online poll I asked readers of this blog which of three logos they thought were most appropriate…

Fighting for Birds – signed copies

  I have a few hardback copies of Fighting for Birds available for the bargain price of £10 (which includes postage, packing, my signature and a dedication to whomsoever you want). Published in 2012, Fighting for Birds is an account of nature conservation issues and topics based on my experience of working for the RSPB…

EU Member States Approve Enhanced Insecticide Ban

  The EU has banned outdoor use of neonicotinoid pesticides on the grounds that they harm bees (and probably other insects and other invertenrates too).   What they say: Buglife – ‘Today is a red letter day for the continent’s pollinators, we salute and thank all of the organisations, members of the public and politicians…